1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reflectometer, and more specifically, a reflectometer for a roasting system, in particular, a coffee roasting system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Roasting apparatus for roasting a variety of materials, such as fresh or green coffee beans, peanuts, almonds and the like, is known. When roasting coffee, the taste and fragrance of coffee depend largely on how the coffee beans have been roasted, as well as the degree to which the coffee beans have been roasted and how quickly following roasting the beans are consumed by brewing coffee with them. It is desirable to produce roasted coffee beans that are consistent in taste and fragrance.
Presently, in order to ensure proper roasting, the experienced roastmaster commonly roasts green coffee beans at a central location for distribution to multiple destinations for sale and consumption. Since coffee beans are presently roasted at a central plant for sale at multiple retail locations, such as supermarkets, stores and specialty shops, as well as coffee and espresso bars, the roasted beans must be stored and shipped before they reach the consumer. Not only is this time-consuming and costly, but in addition to cost and transportation reasons, it is not feasible to effectively distribute coffee that is roasted on a given day for sale at the various retail establishments on the same day. Thus, coffee beans presently for sale at retail establishments are seldom fresh and they are typically several days to several weeks old before they reach the consumer. This compromises the quality and especially the aroma of the coffee. Additionally, it increases the cost of the coffee because of the need to make relatively many deliveries from the roasting plant to the retail locations.
Ideally, coffee beans would be roasted at individual retail locations so that the roasted beans would be freshest when they ultimately reach the consumer. Unfortunately, roasting coffee beans at individual retail locations is unfeasible because of the need to have the roasting process supervised by an experienced roastmaster. The daily roasted coffee bean sales volume is typically too small to justify the high cost of a roastmaster. A roastmaster is required to control the roasting process based upon the change in color of the beans. While the color of the beans is related to the taste profile of the beans, color may be as important as the taste profile since the color of the beans is a characteristic that the average consumer would notice, i.e., it is the most prominent feature of the roasted bean. As little as a ten second variance in the time of roasting can result in a dramatic difference in the color of the beans. Hence, a key problem is the replicating of consistent roasting of green coffee beans. This problem is especially acute in batch roasting processes versus continuous roasting processes.
Use of a reflectometer with coffee bean roasting has been considered. However, the use of conventional reflectometers would require that the reflectometer make contact with the bean in order to measure the color of the bean. Additionally, this contact must take place in a plane as opposed to measuring the beans in volume. Hence, the roasting process would have to be stopped and beans selectively placed in a plane and contacted with the reflectometer in order to measure their color. Such use of conventional reflectometers would not be practical.